Musical instrument



MUS ICAL INSTRUMENT Filed April 16, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. Will/am BHr/fia/omae Sept. 29, 1936. w. BARTHOLOMAE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed April 16, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 I I I I I I I I I l I |||l||| rlllillll-tllilll I l |1| I IIII INVENTOR. Wf/flam BcW/fio/amae ATTORNEY.

Sept. 29, 1936. w. BARTHOLOMAE MUS ICAL INSTRUMENT 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 16, 1935 INVENTOR. WIN/0m Barffia/omae ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 29, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Application April 16, 1935, Serial No. 16,564

13 Claims.

This invention relates to musical instruments and has for one of its objects the provision of a musical instrument having a plurality of rods, tubes, strings or plates, and a slidable keyboard or carriage having hammers for striking the aforementioned elements to produce musical sounds.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a musical instrument having an indicator on the carriage and a song card supported on the instrument having dots, circles and lines or other symbols representing notes of a song with which the said indicator is brought into alignment for denoting which of the notes are to be struck.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a musical instrument of this character which anyone can play, without having studied music.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of such a musical instrument provided with a slidable keyboard having double hammers for striking each of. the strings, bar, rods, etc.

Another object is to produce a device of the character described in which the maximum simplicity of construction and operation is secured.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the nature of the improvements is better understood, the invention consisting substantially in the novel arrangement and co-relation of parts herein fully described, and illustrated in the ac companying drawings, wherein similar reference characters are used to describe corresponding parts throughout the several views, and then finally pointed out and specifically defined and indicated in the appended claims.

The disclosure made the basis of exemplifying the present inventive concept suggests a practical embodiment thereof, but the invention is not to be restricted to the exact details of this disclosure, and the latter, therefore, is to be understood from an illustrative, rather than a restrictive standpoint. I

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a front view of my improved musical instrument.

Figure 2 is a top plan View thereof with the musical chart and indicator partly broken away.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 Fig.2, and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the key carriage.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, 5 indicates the body or sound box provided with side walls 6 and l and a top wall 8 having a cut-out portion 9.

Secured to the underside of the top wall 3 by screws II] is a cross bar It in which there are secured a plurality of spaced apart vibratile rods I2 of varying lengths. If desirable instead of. using rods, tubes, strings ornat plates may be substi tuted. At the front of the sound box 5 and supported in the side walls 6 and I there are a pair of rods [4 and I5 forming a slideway upon which there is slidably supported a carriage [6 having keys H which are pivotally mounted on the upper bar Id. The carriage is preferably provided at the left end thereof with an extension I8 for sliding the carriage along the rods l4 and i5.

Each of the keys is provided with an upper resilient or spring member 20 and a lower such member 2|. The spring mernbe'rs 20 and 2| are bent over at the front to form spring loops 22, the said loops forming means for frictionally supporting hammer heads or balls 23. The said balls may be of wood or other suitable material, and if desirable they may have secured to them pads 24 made of felt, leather, rubber, etc., so that when a softer tone is desired the padded surface of the balls may be reversed by compressing the loops 22 and rotating the balls.

Supported in a. pair or Brackets or posts 25 at the front of the sound box is a song card 26 having musical notes thereon indicated by dots 21 and circles 28 and connected by lines 29, but other suitable musical symbols may be employed, if desired.

In playing the instrument the carriage is moved with the left hand and the keys are struck with the fingers of the right hand. To play the music on the sheet 26 the projection I 8 on the carriage I6 is gripped between the fingers of the left hand and the carriage is slid along the bars l4 and I5 until the indicator rod 30 is brought into alignment with the first dot on the top line. The said note is then struck with a finger of the right hand and the carriage is moved to the right and the next note is struck, the fourth note being struck three times. After the last note on the top line is struck, the note 28 at the right of line two is struck. As this note 4 is indicated by a circle both keys I! are struck and the carriage is moved to the left and each note is struck as indicated by the dots and circles. The carriage is moved from left to right and back until the entire song is played, the last note being at the left of the bottom line.

Stops for the key action is provided by means of a cross bar 3| secured to the front of the carriage, the rear surface of the said bar acting as a stop for the keys in one direction, and the upper It is to be understood that the double hammer action produces a tremolo efiect when the key is struck. It will also be seen that due to the arrangement of the notes on the chart and the indicator on the carriage, no knowledge of music is necessary to play my improved instrument. Furthermore it will be seen that with but slight practice one may become adept in the manipue lation of the instrument so as to expertly play any air thereon.

From the foregoing it will be'seen that I have provided a simple and inexpensive instrument upon which tunes may be played as effectively as upon more expensive and elaborate instruments, without any previous musical knowledge.

Having described my invention, what I claim' as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is 1. A musical instrument comprising a body, a plurality of spaced apart vibratile members carried thereby, a slidable carriage secured to the body and a pivotable striker mounted on said carriage and slidable therewith.

2. A musical instrument comprising a body, a plurality of spaced apart vibratile members carried thereby, a slidable carriage, a pair of pivotally mounted keys slidable with the said carriage, and a striker carried by each of the said keys.

3. A musical instrument comprising a body, a plurality of spaced apart vibratile members carried thereby, a slidable carriage, a pair of pivotally mounted keys slidable with the said carriage, and a double striker carried by each key.

4. A musical instrument comprising a body, a plurality of spaced apart vibratile members carried thereby, a slidable carriage, operably mounted strikers slidable with the said carriage, means on the instrument for supporting a music sheet, and an indicator on the carriage for the purpose specified.

5. A musical instrument comprising a body, a plurality of spaced apart vibratile members carried thereby, a slidable carriage secured to the body, operably mounted strikers slidable with the said carriage, and a projection on the carriage extending outwardly thereof by which the car-- 7 riage may be slid by the player.

6. A musical instrument comprising a body, a

m plurality of spaced apart vibratile members carr'iedthereby, a slideway supported on the instrument, a carriage slidably mounted thereon, means on the carriage for sliding same on the slideway, pivotally mounted keys slidable with the carriage, and a striker carried by each of the keys.

'7. A musical instrument comprising a body, a plurality of spaced apart vibratile members carried thereby, a slideway supported on the instrument, a carriage slidably mounted thereon, means on the carriage for sliding same on the pivotally mounted keys slidable with the carriage,

a pair of strikers on each of said keys, one above and one below the vibratile members for striking said members, means for supporting a musical sheet; and an indicator on the carriage for the purpose specified.

9. A musical instrument comprising a body, a plurality of spaced apart vibratile members carried thereby, a slideway supported on the instrument, a carriage slidably mounted thereon, means on the carriage for sliding same on the slideway, pivotally mounted, keys slidable with the carriage, an upper resilient member carried by each key, a striker carried at the free end of each of the said resilient members and normally adapted to rest on one of the vibratile members, a lower resilient member carried by each of the keys and in vertical alignment with the upper resilient member, and a striker on each of the said members normally spaced from the underside of the said vibratile members.

10. A musical instrument comprising a body, a plurality of spaced apart vibratile members carried thereby, a slideway supported on the instrument, a carriage slidably mounted thereon, means on the carriage for sliding same on the slideway, pivotally mounted keys slidable with the carriage, a resilient member carried by each of the keys, a bent over compressible portion at the free end of the said resilient member, a striker normally frictionally held on the said bent over portion but rotatable thereon when the bent over portion is compressed, and a pad partially covering the said striker.

11. A musical instrument comprising a body, a plurality of spaced apart vibratile members carried thereby, a track on the body, a carriage slidably mounted thereon, an opening in the carriage, a pivotal key passing through the carriage, and a striker mounted on the said pivotal key and slidable with the carriage.

12. A musical instrument, comprising a body, a plurality of sound-emitting members carried thereby, a rod carried by the body, a key, pivotally and slidably mounted on the rod, and a striker carried by the slidable key.

13. In combination with a musical instrument, a plurality of spaced-apart, sound-emitting members, a. rod, a key, pivotally and slidably mounted on the rod, an extension carried by the key and a striker carried by the extension and adapted to contact with the sound members.

WILLIAM BARTHOLOMAE. 

